luan
Oud Junkie
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Question about right hand technique and risha sound
Hi oud masters!
I have two problems and I need your help to solve them:
1) If I use pyramid plastic rishas (which to me seems to be excellent) I get a plastic "clack" sort of sound if I play maybe loud or fast.
If I use cow horn risha, I get a "harsh" sound when the edge of the risha "rasps" the string, altough I can get more volume and it's a good risha.
So the question for the first problem would be, how to get rid of the clack sound on the plastic risha, and how to get a sweet and clean sound with
the corn risha?
2) I know that using the index finger below the risha (almost in the tip) helps, but I still can't really have a fluent upstroke most of the times
when I change the hand position to a lower string. What I mean is that I can't do a upstroke fluently on a new string, if I wrote that paragraph weird
haha.
I don't have problems with scales (starting with a downstroke) or with tremolo, but descending scales are really hard because of the upstrokes I have
to do sometimes.
Keep in mind that I use 100% alternate picking.
Thanks a lot!!!
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Brian Prunka
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I will try to post some more thorough suggestions later, but this:
"Keep in mind that I use 100% alternate picking."
is part of the problem.
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ameer
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1) Try out different thicknesses of risha materials. A thinner risha will hit the soundboard more but will make less noise against the strings. The
trick is to find the right balance for your style and particular oud.
2) If you're refering to, for example, doing a downstroke on D and an upstroke on G, I would advise you to do them both as downstrokes. The same
applies to the reverse motion- doing a downstroke on g then an upstroke on D, but it will take longer for it to sound natural; I'm still refining it.
The majority of oud music in my experience is played with downstrokes so upstrokes are less important than on guitar and strict alternate picking is
less appropriate (the usual disclaimer about the excentricities of different traditions applies of course).
Finally, be sure to look through all the responses and try out all the suggestions to find what works for you. There's some room for individuality in
these things.
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luan
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Great posts, thanks guys.
Is there any oud player that has a good alternate picking? famous or from this forum?
Thanks!
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luan
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Anybody else has an idea of how to solve those problems?
Thanks!
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Brian Prunka
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Hey Luan,
Most oud players use a kind of economy picking, with a mix of alternate picking and consecutive downstrokes.
In general, it seems that Turkish players tend to use more alternate picking and Arab players less, but this is a pretty broad generalization.
What I can say, is that you will never get the characteristic "oudy" sound with all alternate picking.
So for your questions:
1) The standard pyramid risha comes in two thicknesses. The regular one is very thin and pretty much unusable in my opinion. The "pro" one is still
fairly thin but a usable thickness depending on your preferences. I also offer a special "heavy pro" risha from them that they made at my request,
which is heavier than their regular "pro" risha.
I assume you have the regular "pro" risha. The "clicking" is when your risha hits the face of the oud (hopefully) on the pickguard. This should not
happen (or very rarely) and usually indicates that there is a problem with your technique. It can be a few different things, it's hard to say over
the internet. You could have too much risha sticking out from your fingers, or you could have the wrong angle between the risha, the strings, and/or
your hand.
As for the horn one, the edges might just be too rough, you can smooth them with some sandpaper, just put the sandpaper on a flat surface and hold
the risha at a right angle to the paper and make sure there are no rough spots (kind of like filing your nails).
You can also thin the risha if it's too thick. A scraper or small piece of glass is more efficient if you do it a lot, but sandpaper or emery paper
will do the job as well.
2) Ameer's suggestion on descending is standard practice. There are 8 possible motions when picking between two strings:
down up low high,
up down low high,
up down high low,
*down up high low,
down down low high,
*up up low high,
*up up high low,
down down high low.
Of these, the most problematic are the ones with a *.
The standard descending approach is to do down-down or up-down when switching strings. You can practice the other ways as well, but it is absolutely
essential to master the rapid consecutive downstroke in this situation, so it is wiser to spend your practice time working on that first.
Here is an example, descending C nahawand, starting with the highest string:
Eb D C: d u d
Bb Ab G: d u d
F Eb D: d u d
C: d
Another thing that helps is to get out of the alternate picking habit of associating downstrokes with beats and upstrokes with offbeats. Sometimes you
need to switch them around for picking reasons or for rhythmic reasons and you need to be fluent in doing so. This can be a real challenge for
someone who is very used to alternate picking, but it is a tremendous asset.
A third thing is to become familiar with grabbing the 4th on a string with the 4th finger to facilitate picking and reduce string crossing.
For instance, this common line:
D C C Bb Bb A A G G F F Eb Eb D D
would ordinarily cross strings like this:
(1st) D C C
(2nd) Bb Bb A A G G
(3rd) F F Eb Eb D D
But instead try:
D C
C Bb Bb A A G
G F F Eb Eb D D
And you can alternate pick the whole thing quite fluently.
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luan
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Registered: 11-25-2011
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Woa, great post man!
Totally agree about changing the fingering allows to alternate pick some passages. I do that on the ending of Ferafesa.
Thanks a lot, really.
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BaniYazid
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Hello,
I think this video should help you for the alternate picking technique
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MojAKXQrdWE
If you can download it and play it at slower speed
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